Tom Robinson Band / Tom Robinson
1987 EMI: CDP 7485432 UK: CZ27

1) 2-4-6-8 Motorway
2) Grey Cortina
3) Don't Take No For An Answer
4) Martin
5) Too Good To Be True
6) Up Against The Wall
7) Bully For You
8) War Baby
9) Atmospherics: Listen To The Radio
10) Never Gonna Fall In Love (Again)
11) Back In The Old Country
12) Old Friend
13) Glad To Be Gay '87
14) Still Loving You

1) 2-4-6-8 Motorway

Drive my truck midway to the motorway station
Fairlane cruiser coming up on the left hand side
Headlight shining, driving rain on the window frame
Little young Lady Stardust hitching a ride... and it's

2-4-6-8 ain't never too late
Me and my radio truckin' on thru the night
3-5-7-9 on a double white line
Motorway sun coming up with the morning light

Whizzkid sitting pretty on your two-wheel stallion
This ol' ten-ton lorry got a bead on you
Ain't no use setting up with a bad companion
Ain't nobody get the better of you-know-who

2-4-6-8 ain't never too late
Me and my radio truckin' on thru the night
3-5-7-9 on a double white line
Motorway sun coming up with the morning light

Well there ain't no route you could choose to lose the two of us
Ain't nobody know when you're acting right or wrong
No-one knows if a roadway's leading nowhere
Gonna keep on driving home on the road I'm on...

2-4-6-8 ain't never too late
Me and my radio truckin' on thru the night
3-5-7-9 on a double white line
Motorway sun coming up with the morning light

2) Grey Cortina

Wish I had a grey Cortina
Whiplash aerial, racing trim
Cortina owner - no one meaner
Wish that I could be like him

Twin exhaust and rusty bumper
Chewing gum at traffic light
Stop at red but leave on amber
Grey Cortina outa sight

Wish I had a grey Cortina
Whiplash aerial, racing trim
Cortina owner - no one meaner
Wish that I could be like him

Furlined seats and lettered windscreen
Elbow on the windowsill
Eight track blazing Brucie Springsteen
Bomber jacket, dressed to kill

Wish I had a grey Cortina
Whiplash aerial, racing trim
Cortina owner - no one meaner
Wish that I could be like him

Never cop a parking ticket
Never seem to show its age
Speed police too slow to nick it
Grey Cortina got it made

Wish I had a grey Cortina
Whiplash aerial, racing trim
Cortina owner - no one meaner
Wish that I could be like him

3) Don't Take No For An Answer

We first met in the winter
Said 'let's give it a try'
I swallowed my fears
A couple of years
Just living a lie
I'd just come from the country
Wide-eyed and naive
I signed on the line
I signed a long time
Now you won't let me leave... but you

Don't take no for an answer (x3)
When you've nothing to lose... no you
Don't take no for an answer( x3)
Put yourself in my shoes

I don't want any trouble
I ain't after a fight
But well-respected man
Please understand, man
You're standing in my light
No use sticking together
I've gotta get out and get off
I offered you a slice
You told me no dice
Cos you wanted the lot... but you

Don't take no for an answer (x3)
When you've nothing to lose... no you
Don't take no for an answer( x3)
Put yourself in my shoes

4) Martin

I just want to tell you about Martin
Cos nobody I know has got a brother like him
As kids we could never be parted
The neighbours all knew us as the terrible twins
At school some kids were always looking for a fight
But Martin never wanted a fuss
Bigmouth Brown thought he'd push him around
Being three years older than us
So I smashed him in the mush with the cloakroom stool
I got six of the best and suspended from school

But it was worth it with a brother like Martin
It was worth it with a brother like him

We used to nick motors for a joyride
Till we rammed a Black Maria in this XJ6
To give Martin time to get clear
I tried to punch a few policemen before I got nicked
I got Borstal for taking and driving away
And beating up the boys in blue
But Martin never missed a single visiting day
He hitched from Clapham to Crewe
With all me racing mags and the little bits of news
Smuggling in ciggies and a little bit of booze

No-one ever had a brother like Martin
No-one ever had a brother like him

People get the wrong impression with Martin
I know he doesn't mix much but he's no snob
The weekend I got out of remand home
He'd got Uncle Ruby to find me this job
And back at my Nan's he'd repainted my room
And bought me a brand new carpet
There was all me old records and books on a shelf
And a secondhand telly from the market
You can get a bit hard when you've been inside
But I hugged the old bastard and I almost cried

Cos no-one ever had a brother like Martin
No-one ever had a brother like him

5) Too Good To Be True

Dreamed last night I was dreaming
Somebody answered my prayer
Cried out over my shoulder
Only the devil was there
Hold no hope for the future
Or good times seeing me through
Too good to be true
Too good to be true

Can't find the floor or the wardrobe

Can't find my way to the park
Life in a bedsitter bedlam
Afraid to go home in the dark
All day today just excuse for tomorrow
Tomorrow just something to do
Too good to be true
Too good to be true

I've given up reading the papers
I've given up watching TV
Hope in hell I'm able to tell
Whatever happened to me
Facing a phase in the future
Hope I've got something to lose
Too good to be true
Too good to be true

Darkhaired dangerous schoolkids
Vicious, suspicious sixteen
Jet-black blazers at the bus stop
Sullen, unhealthy and mean
Teenage guerillas on the tarmac
Fighting in the middle of the road
Supercharged FS1Es on the asphalt
The kids are coming in from the cold

Look out, listen can you hear it
Panic in the County Hall
Look out, listen can you hear it
Whitehall (got us) up against a wall
Up against the wall...

High wire fencing on the playground
High rise housing all around
High rise prices on the high street
High time to pull it all down
White boys kicking in a window
Straight girls watching where they gone
Never trust a copper in a crime car
Just whose side are you on?

Look out, listen can you hear it
Panic in the County Hall
Look out, listen can you hear it
Whitehall (got us) up against a wall
Up against the wall...

Consternation in Brixton
Rioting in Notting Hill Gate
Fascists marching on the high street
Carving up the welfare state

Operator get me the hotline
Father can you hear me at all?
Telephone kiosk out of order
Spraycan writing on the wall

Look out, listen can you hear it
Panic in the County Hall
Look out, listen can you hear it
Whitehall got us up against a wall
Up against the wall...

7) Bully For You

Cut the cackle cos we're getting to the facts now
Guilt edged security hold me back now
Cold blanket at the drop of a hat man
Bully for you - I'm just mad about that man

I hear the sound of dogs in the rain
I know you won't be back again
We seen it three times on the run
Pass up a chance to
Cut the crap and make it happen...
Giving can be fun

We don't need no aggravation
We don't need no aggravation

I ain't afraid but I just don't wanna fight now
This movie's over - so switch that light out
Turn of the screw and tomorrow soon come man
Wake in the morning, wonder what've you done man

There ain't another place in town
I'm moving over, going down
Killing time, the morning drop
The final judgement
Stayed a day to try your way to
Make the aching stop...

We don't need no aggravation
We don't need no aggravation

Music by Peter Gabriel

8) War Baby

Only the very young and the very beautiful can be so aloof
Hanging out with the boys, all swagger and poise
I don't even care what other people are there
I just stare and stare and stare

I see your shadow in the swimming pool
I see your face in the shaving mirror
Time and time and time again
I follow your footsteps so quietly up the backstairs
And I hope and I pray you're never going to find me there

Smooth skin and tenderness long ago on a dark night
Wish I could see you once again just to remember it was true
I want to be still beside you - quiet and still beside you
Listening to your breathing and feeling your warmth again

War baby - you were a
War baby - this means
War baby - I'm scared, so scared
Of whatever it is you keep putting me through

I don't think I could stand another ten years of this fighting
All this stabbing and wounding - only getting my own back
I don't want to batter you to your feet and knees and elbows
When I'm kneeling like a candle at the foot of my own bed

Corresponding disasters every night on the TV
Sickening reality keeps gripping me in its guts
All my friends talk and joke and laugh about Armageddon
But like a nightmare it's still waiting there at the end of every day

War baby... etc.

I don't think I could stand another ten years of this fighting
All this stabbing and wounding - only getting my own back
But later that same evening we were out in the car talking
When I suddenly wondered who the hell it was we were trying to fool

Coz you were the first one that I ever wanted
And it's you I come home to at the end of every day
Like a mother-sucking baby, demanding and so helpless
A little old balding man, all wrinkles and bulging eyes

War baby... etc.

9) Atmospherics: Listen To The Radio

Leave the bureau in the snow
Catch a tram to Onkel Poe
Early evening ring around the moon
Slip in by the concierge
By the bikes and up the stairs
Snap the latch and creep into the room

You throw off your coat, pick up the post
And put a coffee o
Lie down on the bed, lay back your head
And smoke a cigarette

And listen to the radio
Listen to the radio

In the city late tonight
Double feature, black and white
'Bitter Tears' and 'Taxi to the Klo'
Find a bar, avoid a fight
Show your papers, be polite
Walking home with nowhere else to go

You throw off your coat, pick up my note
Put another coffee on
Lie down on the bed, lay back your head
And smoke a cigarette

And listen to the radio
Listen to the radio

Atmospherics after dark
Noise and voices from the past
Across the dial from Moscow to Cologne:
Interference in the night
Thousand miles on either side
Stations fading into the unknown:

So throw off your coat, we'll butter some toast
And put a coffee on:
We'll lie down on the bed, lay back our heads
Smoke another cigarette

And listen to the radio
Listen to the radio

All night long...

Music co-written by Peter Gabriel

10) Never Gonna Fall In Love (Again)

Never meant to be so friendly
Never made the room look nice
Never heed a word of warning
Never take my own advice...
Oo-ooh, I got a brand new problem:
Pretty and he's five foot ten
I've been in love three times this week -
I'm just about to fall again...

I don't wanna fall in love
I'm never gonna fall in love
Again...
No I don't wanna fall in love
Never gonna fall in love
I'm never gonna fall in love
Again

Never meant to be so sexist
But it's so hard to overcome
Trying hard to fight the feeling
Lechery can be such fun...
Cos everywhere there's lots of foxes
And every cat I meet's a Tom
I wish he didn't make me rabid
Wish he wouldn't turn me on... cos

I don't wanna fall in love
I'm never gonna fall in love
Again...
No I don't wanna fall in love

Never gonna fall in love
I'm never gonna fall in love
Again

Music by Elton John

11) Back In The Old Country

Had dinner with a softcore pornographer at a mansion in Earls Court
He wore a dressing gown and a short fat beard
He showed me pictures of balding cowboys and a chicken with false teeth
All those horseflesh hustlers stood around looking weird

I met a Sid Vicious lookalike and he was six foot four
Had spikes on his dog collar made of solder
He wore a dirty old gaberdine mac and a ring with a rat
He was 17 but he looked about ten years older... that was

Back in the old country, back in the old country
Back in the old country, back in the old country

10am one Sunday, Herman hadn't been near a bed
And he was knocking back rum and tea just to keep awake
He had a black string tie and a gleam in his eye
He look so wired and wicked it made my day

Headed up to Edinburgh on the Great North Road
In a lefthand German Rabbit with no brakes
We took a two-room tenement flat but we soon got rid of that
When it was our turn to wash the common and pay the rates... that was

Back in the old country, back in the old country
Back in the old country, back in the old country

Flooded drains on a hot dark night in Kreuzberg
Taxis splashing by in the neon light
We got halfway across the red and white concrete blocks
When a telephone rang and the major said ' Tut mir leid'... wish I was

Back in the old country, back in the old country
Back in the old country, back in the old country

12) Old Friend

These will be the days
That we'll remember in days to come
The years slipped by so quickly
Now we're none of us so young
I'm frightened by emotions
Too wild for my control
Sometimes I've tried to hurt you
And at times I hurt us both
I cry out loud thinking back about
How I've been so blind and dumb
And I'm still shaken by your grace and innocence
After all we've been and done

And if I should dream, it'd be of you
Of you old friend, oh yeah
No one I know has the power to move me
The way you move me
And you do...

Loving you has never been easy
Oh but maybe I've been trying too hard
Cos at last I can start to see you
And to know you as you really are
You walk ahead with a spring in your step
And a twinkle in your eye
I'm so weary and I'm aching all over
But I finally feel alive

And if I dream, it'll be of you
Of you old friend, oh yeah
No one I know has the power to move me
The way you move me
And you do...

Loving you has never been easy
And I never thought I'd get this far
But at last I can start to see you
And to know you as you really are
I'm a bit of a cynic and too long in the tooth
To try and overstate the case
And I don't want to embarass us both tonight
By saying this to your face

But if I should dream, it'd be of you
Of you old friend, oh yeah
No one I know has the power to move me
The way you move me
And you do...

Think I'd better go
Think I'd better go now
Old friend, I think I'd better go now

The British Police are the best in the world
I don't believe one of these stories I've heard
About pretty policemen in leather and jeans
Showing their leg through a split in the seams
Leering at people and leading them on
Then running them in when they start to respond
The press all ignore it, they don't want to see
Except when the case is... a Tory MP

Sing if you're glad to be gay
Sing if you're happy that way

Pictures of naked young women are best
In the News of the Screws and the popular press
They plaster their pages with bingo and tits
Then add all the scandal and slander that fits
The women at Greenham they smeared and despised
They crucified Elton with sneering and lies
If it's paedophile teachers or lesbian nuns
If it's filth and it's fiction... it's all there in the Sun

Sing if you're glad to be gay
Sing if you're happy that way

And now there's a cancer to blame on the gays
That's brutal and fatal and slowly invades
The moral majority like a lot
Cos it's the wages of sin and the Judgement of God
The medics are baffled and caught on the run
They say it's a nightmare has barely begun
While government spending is barely a joke
Cos saving our lives doesn't... win any votes

Sing if you're glad to be gay
Sing if you're happy that way

And sit back and watch as they cease all our books
And treat us like leopards and sinners and crooks
Just hope you don't get caught up in the raids
Or pick up a pig or a partner with aids
Lie to your workmates and lie to your folks
Put down the clones and tell lesbian jokes
Forget the impression from everywhere else
While we still do a wonderful job oppressing ourselves

Sing if you're glad to be gay
Sing if you're happy that way
Sing if you're glad to be gay
Sing if you're happy this way

14) Still Loving You

I still recall those crazy nights
Days our love was at its height
The madness and the passion that we shared
Waking early in the gloom
Beside you in that bedsit room
Magazines and letters everywhere

Payphone ringing in the hall
Cheap emulsion on the walls
The smell of winter in the air
With you I feel alive and clean
And happier than I've ever been
When I'm alone it's hard to bear

One day I will lose you and that I know
But sure as hell I'm gonna be yours forever
And till that day I'll still be loving you
The way I do while we're together
Be loving you... still loving you

The day we went back to the place
You spent your wild unhappy days
The hometown of a teenage refugee
I lay beside you on the grass
As trains to London thundered past
The ghost of who you used to be

One day I will lose you and that I know
But sure as hell I'm gonna be yours forever
And till that day I'll still be loving you
The way I do while we're together
Be loving you... still loving you

Silences and sudden strains
Fall between us now again
I know you're always on your guard
But you don't have to be sweet to me
Be what you want to be -
Be rude and brutal if you are

One day I will lose you and that I know
But sure as hell I'm gonna be yours forever
And till that day I'll still be loving you
The way I do while we're together
Be loving you... still loving you